


Complicated Confessions

by KaRaEa



Series: A Conflict of Interest [10]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, M/M, Pre-Poly, Sort of but not really cheating, figuring stuff out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-09 00:35:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11657946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaRaEa/pseuds/KaRaEa
Summary: Tim comes home to find Damian and Jason both avoiding him like the plague. It doesn't take a forensic analyst to figure out that particular mystery.





	Complicated Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> In writing this fic and having Zillabird go over it we discovered Brits and Americans spell 'pyjamas/pajamas' differently. Weird.

When Tim got back from Bart's, Jason was quiet and subdued. Where he'd usually have a teasing quip for Tim every time he saw him, a comment on his youth or his dorkiness or any other number of things Jason like to pick at, he avoided Tim's eyes every time he saw Tim coming. Not a word spoken unnecessarily. It was as if Jason didn't know Tim except worse because Jason was generally pretty friendly to everyone, if a bit difficult to get to know properly.

When he shot a searching look at Roy he just got a confused shrug in return. Any attempt at probing the problem got him nothing but a slightly panicked glance and Jason practically running away. It was weird. 

After a week of it Tim was in a fantastically fucked off mood. While he was usually the office darling everyone was walking on eggshells around him. It did wonders for his productivity, everything he requested was in faster than it ever had been and the lack of socialisation meant he worked through his shifts without a real break, getting down any backlog he'd accrued in his time away. 

When he spent time with Dick and Damian his mood improved slightly, but he was still irritable and short fused, and the master detectives could hardly fail to notice. At one point Dick pulled him aside to ask gently if there was a problem, following it up with questions about how Damian was treating him. Damian barely seemed interested except where it affected their work, but even Tim noticed the concerned and almost guilty glances Damian kept shooting at him when he thought no one was watching.

On a stakeout with Damian he tried to ask Damian if he'd noticed anything odd about Jason's behaviour and only got a garbled response containing several insults to both Tim and Jason and a long description of how very little attention he paid to Jason's anything. It was far too long and ridiculous to be completely honest so Tim kept at him the entire stakeout, hoping to catch him out.

It didn't work. Damian kept his mouth shut and began to avoid Tim as much as Jason was. It was infuriating, especially when they were trying to keep up the pretence that they were dating. It wasn't a very convincing show when they re-entered the bat cave and instead of asking for time alone Damian ran off with a half-baked excuse. It was further perplexing when Damian shot a guilty look at Dick on his way out.

"Is everything okay?" Dick asked for what must've been the tenth time that day. Maybe that was an exaggeration, but he had asked with his stupidly pretty eyes practically every five minutes so Tim thought he could be excused for exaggerating on the actual vocalised questions.

"Yeah," Tim responded doubtfully. "It's just... Do you think Jason and Damian have been acting weird lately?"

Dick hesitated. "Well, Damian's been acting... off, but that's just how Damian is. When something's up with him he shuts himself off and you have to kind of wait it out most of the time. If there's something up with you two though, I can try to talk to him?"

Tim shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe it's me." He changed from the dark clothes he used on the rare occasion he helped the vigilantes with stuff out in the field into his regular work clothes, ready to do a short shift at the station to finish up logging the previous day’s work, that he’d left incomplete in order to help out Dick and Damian. Being friends with vigilantes was hell on his sleeping patterns.

 

When he got to the station Jason was already there, still avoiding him. But if he had to choose between Jason and Damian to pressure for an explanation, Jason was his best bet. The guy had to see him at work nearly every day and there was only so much avoiding he could do.

So much for going home early to get some sleep.

He picked his moment carefully, waiting until he knew Jason was on lunch break and not out on patrol before ambushing him. Predictably, Jason turned to flee as soon as he saw Tim coming but Tim just kept after him and cornered him at his desk. Roy and Korri had both left to grab food ahead of Jason at Tim's discreet insistence. This left Tim and Jason the only ones in the bullpen not working.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Tim cut right to the point. Jason wasn't the kind of guy to appreciate subtlety and Tim probably should have asked outright from the beginning. Probably would have if he'd been able to get Jason to spend any time with him.

Jason floundered. "I've just been busy. This is a full time job, kid."

Tim folded his arms. "Never stopped you talking to a colleague before. In fact, I'm the only colleague you've been too busy for." At Jason's lack of answer Tim felt the near overwhelming urge to stomp his foot. Lack of sleep was combing with confused annoyance to make him feel weirdly sulky and dramatic. He wondered briefly if that was how Damian felt all the time. "God, you're just as bad as Damian. I can't get a straight answer out of him either."

Jason actually paled. Tim had never seen him pale without bleeding out before. "You talked to Damian?"

Tim narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, I did. What does he have to do with whatever weirdness is going on here?"

 “Nothing,” Jason said, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding Tim’s eyes again. “I’m just looking to eat my lunch. Making perps hungry before an interrogation is one of our techniques. You testing your skills out on me?”

"It'll be over as soon as you tell me what the hell is going on!" Tim snapped.

"Jesus, kid!" Jason rubbed his face and threw himself back into a slouch. His eyes grew distant. "It wasn't supposed to happen, I don't know why it did."

"...What wasn't supposed to happen?" Tim asked warily. There was always a chance this was the start to a distraction, but the defeat and guilt in Jason's eyes made him think otherwise. Jason must have really fucked up somehow. "What did you do?"

"He wanted a date, just some arm candy for the stupid Police gala," Jason started to explain.

"Damian?" Tim checked.

Jason sighed. "Yeah. Damian." He didn't say anything else.

Tim's eyes narrowed as he thought, connecting dots he would never have thought he'd find himself connecting. "You...and Damian...?"

"It was just a kiss, I swear. We realised as soon as we'd done it that we'd fucked up. I am so, so fucking sorry," Jason blurted. "He's crazy about you, who wouldn't be?"

_You, Dick,_ Tim thought, but that was beside the point. "You cheated on Dick?"

Jason froze for a fraction of a second, barely noticeable. 

"Do you actually give a shit about him?" Tim snapped. How could anyone cheat on Dick? God, if Tim ever got the chance... But with Damian of all people. Tim always thought Jason was better than that, for all his flaws. Damian he could understand, broken hearted and jealous and  _not actually dating Tim_. But Jason had Dick and loathed Damian. 

"Of course I do. I have no idea how this happened and it'll never happen again, it just... It was a split second. Barely even a kiss, it was..." Jason floundered again. 

"Does Dick know?" Tim asked.

Jason's silence said it all.

Tim searched Jason’s face and nodded. "I won't tell him. But if you ever,  _ever,_ do this to him again..."

"I know, and it won't," Jason promised. "Tim?"

"What?"

"Don't be too hard on Damian. I can tell the kid cares about you, he didn't mean to hurt you," Jason said, though the words seemed full of guilt rather than conviction. If Tim had to guess, Jason just didn't want to be responsible for the breakdown of Tim's supposed relationship.

 

"I talked to Jason," Tim said.

Damian froze where he was climbing in through Tim's window, fully outfitted in the Robin costume.

"And?" Damian asked, with a far more convincing stab at casual than someone hanging out of an open window should be able to manage.

Tim huffed. "You kissed him. How could you do that to Dick?"

Damian finished his climb and came over to sit on Tim's bed. "I wasn't thinking. Todd was there, and you and Grayson were not. Other than that I can offer no excuse. It lasted barely a second before we put a stop to it."

The dull ache in Tim's chest didn't subside. It was troubling. As bad as he felt for Dick, this was taking empathy a little too far.

"I apologise," Damian offered solemnly.

"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," Tim said.

Damian tilted his head in consideration. "Is that so?"

Tim shifted uncomfortably.

"Drake..." Damian made a cut off sound, his mouth twitching down at the corners. "I know that I have wronged Grayson, and I intend to make amends."

"Good," Tim said.

"But I believe I have wronged you as well," Damian continued. "My actions must have embarrassed you. Though our relationship is fraudulent it must have been difficult to hear."

"It was," Tim admitted. "But we never agreed to be exclusive to keep up appearances."

Damian watched him for a moment. "Do you wish to?" 

"Do I wish to what?" Tim asked.

"Become exclusive? Neither you nor I can involve ourselves with those we wish to, so perhaps it would be better to preclude complications of this kind in future," Damian said.

Tim felt the urge to laugh. "Are you asking me out?" 

"Of course not," Damian denied a little too quickly. Tim watched with interest as a faint line of red appeared along the bridge of the vigilante's nose.

"I mean, under the circumstances it wouldn't be the most terrible idea in the world," Tim said, working through the idea in his head. "We already have sex and pretend to go on dates."

"It... Would not be altogether objectionable," Damian admitted. 

"It might even be kind of fun, in a weird way. We both know the other has feelings for someone else, so there wouldn't need to be any lies or anything," Tim said. "It's pretty much doomed from the start, but so long as we both know that going in it shouldn't be a problem. We'd just get to feel less pathetic and lonely when Jason and Dick talk us into those awful double dates. It'd be kind of like stepping up from occasional booty calls to friends with benefits."

"We would no longer need to lie to Grayson," Damian nodded slowly. 

"Yeah, that too," Tim said. 

Damian went silent, lost in thought, as Tim scanned him and wondered how difficult it would be to get Damian out of the costume. It had to be easier than it looked, Tim had known the vigilantes to suit up and to go back to plain clothes at a rate that would suggest stripper-velcro, but he really wasn't sure how to remove the suit himself. He wondered if Damian would show him. 

"How does the suit come off?" Tim asked, after all there was one way to answer his own questions.

Damian looked up, startled. "Come off?" Then he took in Tim's slow scanning of his body and his lips twitched up. "Should I show you?"

Tim nodded fervently. "Definitely. Who knows when I might need to know how to get you out of it?"

"Of course. There are many situations that could arise to necessitate your assistance," Damian said, a smile growing as he reached for a clasp on the shoulder. 

"It could be life or death," Tim agreed as Damian's skin started to show. 

When most of the costume was shed, leaving Damian in nothing but incredibly tight underwear, Damian reached for his mask.

"No!" Tim blurted. "Leave it on."

Damian chuckled a little, and if there's something about this arrangement of theirs that Tim enjoyed nearly as much as the sex it was seeing this side of Damian. The side that was sexy and funny, and sometimes sweet. "I wasn't aware you had an attraction to disguises."

Tim shrugged. Neither had he really. Sure, he'd always held a firm appreciation for the clinginess of the costumes but the urge to fuck Damian wearing the mask was new. He also still had no idea how the costume came off, he'd been a little... Distracted. 

Damian crawled up over Tim's lap. "Any further requests?"

Tim pulled the vigilante down into a kiss. For a split second he wondered what Damian and Jason had tasted like after kissing each other. It was a surprisingly erotic thought that barely brought a tinge of jealousy, and then Damian was nibbling his lip and gliding his hands up under Tim's sleep shirt. Tim found it a whole lot harder to think of anything other than what he wanted to do to Damian next. 

Damian pulled back to breathe and Tim was caught by the intense look in his eyes. 

"God, you're gorgeous," Tim gasped. He still wanted Jason and Dick like he wanted his next breath, but wanting Damian was becoming alarmingly easy. He really was beautiful.

Damian looked a little smug at the compliment and rewarded his lover with a long kiss. "A thought has occurred to me."

"What?" Tim asked.

"We are in your home," Damian said.

"And?"

Damian raised an eyebrow, only the movement of the muscle visible over his mask. "And presumably you keep prophylactics in your home. Unless you are far less prepared than I suspect."

Tim's mind blanked for a moment at the suggestion Damian was making. "I... Yeah, I do. In my... In the..." He gave up and twisted towards the bedside cabinet. In an entirely unnecessarily showy manoeuvre, Damian beat him to it and searched in the drawer for a moment, coming back with a condom and a bottle of lube.

"Which position do you prefer?" Damian asked.

"Do you mean top or bottom or do you mean like doggy or missionary?" Tim replied, partly stalling for time to make up his mind without Damian making that huffy noise or tutting at him the way he did when he got impatient.

Damian looked at him like he was an idiot, which was probably fair under the circumstances. Tim felt distinctly like his brain wasn't getting its usual share of the blood supply. "Top or bottom."

"I really don't care," Tim admitted. 

After pausing with a look of consideration on his face, Damian nodded and reached for Tim's pyjama pants. "Then I shall top."

"Sure," Tim agreed readily and dragged him in for another kiss. Tim noted smugly that Damian lost track of what he was doing, abandoning Tim's pyjamas in favour of grasping his jaw and neck as they kissed. Tim broke away to trace the edges of the mask with his lips in gentle, flowing kisses. 

When Tim reached his mouth again, Damian went back to the task of undressing Tim, starting with his t-shirt this time, left hand squeezing at Tim's waist while his right tugged at the pajama pants. Damian barely stopped kissing him the whole time, not even stopping to look what he was doing with the lube when he opened it. As a result Tim ended up with a cold trickle of lubricant trailing down from his belly and around to his back, but he couldn't say he cared.

 

 

Dick swung neatly in through the window in time to see Damian push one finger into Tim. 

He froze.

Damian had gone dark a little over ten minutes ago but Dick hadn't been too concerned, they weren't due any kind of check in for another half an hour. It somehow hadn't occurred to him as he decided to drop in on Tim that maybe Damian had had the same thought but with a rather different agenda.

Silent as he always was (he got a kick out of the way Tim startled when he noticed Dick was there) and distracted as the two lovers were, Dick's entrance went unnoticed. He knew he should turn around and leave, or at the very least announce his presence, but there was some revelation forming in his head that got clearer the longer he watched Tim and his own little br- Damian. He could not watch Damian have sex and still think of him as his little brother. In fact, said revelation seemed to revolve around that very point.

Lately it was getting... weird to call Damian his brother. At first he'd thought it was because of Damian's own reluctance to have the label applied to him, but then the restaurant had happened and his head had been a jumble since. Now, watching Damian's hands as he...

Well. It was quite clear that unless he wanted to give himself some unappealing labels, he had to drop the idea that Damian was his relative or anything near a child.

If he was completely honest with himself, the main thought that circled his mind as he watched them was  _I wonder if there's a chance in Hell they'd let me join in?_  And if he was even more honest, uncomfortably so, it wasn't the first time something like that had occurred to him.


End file.
